1. Field of the Application
The present patent application relates generally to apparatus for sterilizing and storing medical/dental instruments, such as sterilization cassettes and/or portions of sterilization cassettes and/or sterilization cassette systems and/or instrument retention members and systems for use with sterilization cassettes, either individually or in various combinations thereof.
2. Background
Medical and dental instruments generally need to be sterilized prior to use on a patient. Instruments that are to be used multiple times on different patients or procedures need to be sterilized prior to each use. Therefore, medical or dental professionals typically sterilize these instruments near the operating or treatment area, such as in the office or hospital.
Instruments are often sterilized using an autoclave. An autoclave generally has a compartment into which the unsterile instruments are placed. The compartment is closed, and steam and/or hot water is injected into the compartment for a period of time sufficient to sterilize the instruments. Thereafter, the compartment is opened and the sterilized instruments are removed and, optionally, stored for later use.
Sterilization cassettes are containers used to hold instruments during sterilization and, optionally, to store the sterilized instruments at least temporarily after sterilization. Sterilization cassettes typically have a body defining one or more trays for holding the instruments. The trays typically have a closed position, in which the instruments are held within an enclosed, porous compartment surrounded by and/or between the trays, and an open position, in which the instruments may be removed from the trays.
In a typical sterilization cassette 10 shown in FIG. 1, the body is defined by two opposing cassette trays 12, 14 connected in a clamshell configuration. Instrument retention members 16, 18 are carried by one or both trays 12, 14 for releasably retaining one or more instruments (not shown). The two trays 12, 14 are secured together in a closed position, in which the instruments are located inside a compartment 20 defined between the two trays and held in a fixed position by and between the instrument retention members 16 and 18. Each tray has a porous wall 22, 24 that allows the hot water and/or steam to enter into the compartment 20 to sterilize the instruments therein while in an autoclave.
The present applicants have identified a need for improvements to the typical sterilization cassette.